ISO 14000

ISO 14000 is a series of international standards for environmental management, measurement, evaluation, and auditing. It is especially important for export-based organizations and companies whose operations have an impact on the environment.

ISO 14001 can be used as a guide to upgrade your company's present environmental management system in accordance with an internationally recognized set of requirements.

Benefits

ISO 14000 is also proven to reduce risk and liability for companies, while increasing efficiency and corporate image. Some of the perceived – and actual – benefits experienced by certified companies may include:

Internal Benefits:

• Improvement in overall environmental performance and compliance.
• Provide a framework for using pollution prevention practices to meet EMS objectives.
• Increased efficiency and potential cost savings when managing environmental obligations.
• Promote predictability and consistency in managing environmental obligations.
• More effective targeting of scarce environmental management resources.
• Enhance public perception with outside stakeholders.
• Fewer accidents, errors and penalties.
• Reduction of costs associated with emissions, discharges, waste handling, transport, and disposal.
• Savings from safer workplace conditions.

Environmental Benefits:

• Minimizes hazardous and non-hazardous waste.
• Conserves natural resources – electricity, gas, space, and water with resulting cost savings.
• Prevents pollution and reduces wastage.

Competitive Benefits:

• Increase in process yields.
• Addresses the requirement to compete in international markets.
• Less downtime through more careful monitoring and maintenance.
• Improved utilization of by-products.
• Conversion of waste into commercially valuable forms.
• Savings from safer workplace conditions.
• Improvements in the product as a result of process changes. Higher quality, more consistent products.
• Demonstrates the company’s environmental responsibility to shareholder groups.
• More efficient resource use.
• Increased competitiveness.
• Possible reduction in need for multiple on-site audits by regulatory agencies.

Marketing Benefits:

• Proof of environmental responsibility to business partners, regulatory agencies, and community.
• Meets potential national and international government purchasing requirements.
• Delivers profits from marketing "green" products.
• Provides a competitive marketing tool.
• Improves international competitiveness.

Financial Benefits:

• Improves the organization’s relationship with insurance companies.
• Elimination of costs associated with conformance to conflicting national standards.
• Reduced energy consumption.
• Process cost savings by reduction of material and energy input.
• Satisfying investor / shareholder criteria.
• Helps reduce liability and risk.
• Improved access to capital.

The Challenge

Protecting the environment is important. It not only helps create a brighter future, it also shows you are a responsible business, earns the trust of customers, and earns compliance with regulatory requirements.

The following issues may impact a company in its registration efforts:

• Understand EMS language and requirements.
• Identify and evaluate the environmental risks associated with each site operation.
• Objectively determine the significance of each environmental aspect in order to prioritize the actions necessary in the environmental management programs.
• Limited resources – when asked, most companies will normally identify money, personnel, and time as their most problematic resources.
• Understand and stay-ahead of, the various laws and regulations that apply and determine the measures that must be taken to comply with them.
• Conduct a gap analysis against the EMS to rate certification readiness to ISO 14001.
• Distribute procedures to all employees while ensuring security of the information and the users.
• Plan all of the environmental tasks while enabling follow-ups by employees, managers, or corporate headquarters.
• Supporting cultural change throughout implementation.
• Difficulty in adoption and standardization of EHS initiatives across the organization.
• And many others…

All of these are significant challenges. However, the implementation and registration of a management system helps an organization achieve continuous performance improvement.

To deal with all these challenges an integrated and automated management system can certainly be of great help.

SoftExpert Excellence Suite provides organizational efficiency, process control, and flexibility to help simplify the tasks involved in managing data and information. It will also help your organization make better decisions in managing the content and process that drive your business.

SoftExpert Excellence Suite is an integrated, configurable, and easy-to-use software solution especially designed to facilitate adherence to ISO quality standards. SoftExpert Excellence Suite can help meet key ISO 14000 requirements and at the same time increase efficiency and keep compliance costs down.

 

Each SoftExpert Excellence Suite module meets key regulatory requirements, as shown below:

Module	Compliance and Requirements
SE Action	Manages the entire process by: Identifying and correcting nonconformities. Taking actions to mitigate their impacts. Investigating nonconformities. Determining their causes. Taking actions in order to avoid their recurrence. Evaluating the need for actions to prevent nonconformities and implementing appropriate actions designed to avoid their occurrence. Recording the results of the CAPA. Reviewing the effectiveness of the CAPA.
SE Audit	Manages the entire process by: Planning and executing first, second and third part audits. Programming audits, taking into consideration the scope, status and importance of the processes and/or areas to be audited. Defining the criteria, methods, responsibilities and requirements to be audited. Selecting the auditors, according to their skills, ensuring that they will not audit their own work. Maintenance of records: Audits and their results. Evidence ocurrences¹. Disposition action and CAPA¹. Cause analysis¹. Follow-up activities¹. Verification of the actions taken¹.
SE BI	Helps identify, collect and analyze appropriate data to demonstrate the suitability and effectiveness of the management system.
SE Calibration **	Helps ensure that monitoring and measurement equipment is properly calibrated and/or verified, and that associated records are maintained.
SE Competence *	Helps the organization: Ensure that any person performing tasks for it or on its behalf that have the potential to cause a significant EHS risk identified by the organization is competent based on appropriate education and/or experience. Establish, implement and maintain procedures to ensure that the people working for it or on its behalf are aware of: The importance of conformity with the EHSM policy and procedures and the requirements of the management system. The significant EHS risks and related actual or potential impacts associated with their work, as well as the benefits of improved personal performance. Their roles and responsibilities achieving conformity with the management system requirements. The potential consequences of deviation from the specified procedures.
SE Document	Manages the entire process by: Elaborating, reviewing and approving documents for adequacy prior to issue. Reviewing and updating as necessary and re-approving documents. Identifying, storing, protecting, retrieving, retaining and disposing of records. Ensures that: Changes and the current revision status of documents are identified. Relevant versions of applicable documents are available. Documents and records remain legible and readily identifiable. Documents of external origin determined by the organization are identified and their distribution controlled. Prevents the unintended use of obsolete documents, and suitably identifies them if they are retained for any purpose.
SE Maintenance **	Ensures the availability of the infrastructure essential for establishing, implementing, maintaining and improving the management system.
SE Performance	Manages the entire process by: Establishing, implementing, maintaining and analyzing objectives, indicators and targets for following the policy established by the organization, including its commitment to: Its the significant EHS risks. The prevention of pollution. Compliance with applicable legal requirements and other requirements to which the organization subscribes. Continuous improvement. Its technological options, its financial, operational and business requirements and the views of interested parties. Deploying objectives, indicators and targets at relevant functions and levels within the organization. Designating the responsibility for achieving the objectives and targets at relevant functions and levels of the organization. Defining adequate means and time-frames for monitoring and, where applicable, measuring the objectives, indicators, targets and processes established by the organization.
SE Process	Manages the entire process by: Defining the processes needed and their application throughout the organization. Determining the sequence, interaction and EHS risks of these processes. Determining the criteria and methods required to ensure that both the operation and control of these processes are effective and mitigated EHS risks. Defining the resources and information necessary to support the operation and monitoring of these processes. Defining the monitoring and measurement points, where applicable, and analyzing these processes. Implementing the actions necessary to achieve planned results and continually improve these processes.
SE Project *	Manages the entire process by: Establishing, implementing, maintaining and analyzing the action plans (programs) for following the policy established by the organization. Deploying action plans at relevant functions and levels within the organization. Designating the responsibility for completing action plans at relevant functions and levels of the organization. Defining adequate means and time-frames for the monitoring and, where applicable, measurement of action plans established by the organization.
SE Request	Manages the entire identification process through: Requirements specified by the interested parties (customer, shareholders, employees, suppliers and community). Requirements not stated by the customer but necessary for specified or intended use, where known. Statutory and regulatory requirements applicable to the product and the process. Any additional requirements considered necessary by the organization with aims of enhancing customer satisfaction.
SE Risk	Helps the organization: Manage the risks associated with its organizational environment and related changes. Ensure that the significant EHS risks are taken into account when establishing, implementing and maintaining its management system. Manages the entire process by: Identifying the EHS risks of its activities, products and services within the defined scope of the management system that it can control and those it can influence. Determining those EHS risks that have or can have significant impacts. Documenting this information and keeping it up to date.
SE Training *	Helps the organization: Ensure that any person performing tasks for it or on its behalf that have the potential to cause a significant EHS risk identified by the organization is competent based on appropriate training. Identify training needs associated with its EHS Risks and its management system. Provide training or take other actions to meet these needs. Retain associated records.
SE Waste *	Manages the entire process of identification and planning of operations related to waste, including: The storage, transportation and disposal of generated waste. The management of the complete lifecycle of waste by-products, starting with the generation, on to processing and finally to the final disposal. Provides consistency and accuracy through standardized waste profiles. Ensures streamlined waste management information organization-wide. Effortlessly tracks waste inventories, including accumulation, storage, containers and lab packs.

* Premium Package
** SE Suite Package
¹ Activities performed through the interface with SE Action